Most talked about French Tech topics of 2012

Throughout 2012, there were definitely some recurring themes in the French tech scene – to be frank, some companies just make headlines more than others. We’ve compiled our top 10 list, with a bit of the ‘highlight’ news that these companies found themselves in:

Google: To quote one reader: “it feels like all you do is talk about Google these days?” It’s true that, as one of the largest multinational tech companies operating in France, and the most visited website in France, it’s no surprise that Google was the subject of nearly 50 articles this past year. Whether they are launching new products in France that outperform local competitors, or whether their fightinng the government (twice!), Google seemed to be quite active in France this past year. Hopefully 2013 will be the year they build a Berlin- or London-sized tech hub in Paris, though I doubt it.

LeWeb: While LeWeb Paris has always garnered a high-level attention, it was clear this year that LeWeb was looking to grow a year-’round presence in the media world. Between LeWeb Paris & the first ever LeWeb London, all the LeWeb Google+ Hangouts & LeWeb’s recent acquisition by Reed MIDEM, it’s no shocker that Paris’ largest web event was well-represented in Rude Baguette’s articles.

Twitter: Rumors circulated all year about Twitter’s arrival in France, with even the Mayor of Paris promising they’d arrive in Spring of 2013. Readers finally got confirmation just last month when the official subsidiary showed up in the public French company database. Frankly, it’s surprising and telling of the difficulties for companies to set up shop in France, given that Paris is one of the largest cities on Twitter.

The runners up in trends are quite noteworthy as well – Apple / iPhonelikely placed lower on Rude Baguette than they did on any other tech site this year.Amazon‘s opening of two new logistics centers in France, as well as that $252 M tax bill they received put them on our radar. SFRlost more than just a CEO & one of their more expensive Paris real estates, it lost a couple hundred thousand clients as well to Free Mobile. LeCamping & its companies also got a fair amount of love on Rude Baguette.

We also published the Top 5 most read articles of 2012 – check it out here!